NUT, GoldenMate LiFePo4 UPSes, and UPSSTATS.CGI

[rtcg (Richard G)]

Brief:
NUT on IPFire does support a certain UPS but a newer version supports it better. Also the NUT pakfire package doesn’t include a WUI tool to view the UPS status but the APCUPSD packfire package does. What are the policies/guidelines/resources/desires for community users to build updated packages?

Verbose:
IPFire wins again! I’ve successfully setup NUT on IPFire using a Goldenmate UPS and it the current NUT PakFire addon does support basic communications with the ups.

NUT version 2.8.5 will include more support for the ups. From the NUT release notes

• idowell-hid subdriver now also supports GoldenMate 1000VA/800W LiFePO4 battery packs (0x06da:0xffff), which carry the same -BMS- firmware and HID descriptor as the existing 0x075d:0x0300 device. The shared Phoenixtec vendor ID (0x06da) is gated by device strings so the other devices on that ID still fall through to liebert-hid / mge-hid. [issue #3501, PR #3502].

Also, the NUT package has no WUI page to view the UPS statistics such as Input or Output voltage, or Capacity and Load like the APCUPSD package does.

There is a UPSSTATS.CGI script included with NUT but it is not built in the IPFire package. I have since configured the fileserver’s NUT to also monitor the IPFire’s UPS. The basic functions provided by the 2.8.4 NUT version of the pakfire pack do show Battery Capacity, but that’s it.

So, as a former Slackware user, my questions are:

Where are the pakfire source packages kept?

Is the compilation of customized pakfire packages encouraged or discouraged? Or is only discourse desired?

Is there an environment package setup if one wants to setup an IPFire server environment where packages can be compiled?

Where are these “community packages” that are mentioned in the forums description for ADD-ONS (Extend IPFire beyond the firewall with community packages and additional services).

And I thank you all for developing such a wonderful product that is very easy to use while being so full featured!

Longish time user, first time poster.

[bonnietwin (Adolf Belka)]

Hallo @rtcg

Welcome to the IPFire community.

Currently IPFire has nut-2.8.4.

nut-2.8.5 is available but there have been some changes in the configure.ac file that have resulted in build failures when I have been trying to build the update patch. Basically it comes back and says that as I have specified a user in the ./configure command that I must also specify a group. However a group is specified and when looking at the build logs, configure has identified but then says that the group is not specified.

There is obviously a bug in there somewhere.

I have raised this as a bug in the nut github issues section but the developer is away for some weeks. I had an initial look myself for why it was occurring but was not able to identify it.
Meanwhile other issues have come up that I am having to spend my time on.

Either I will find some time to have a further check on differences in the configure.ac file between 2.8.4 and 2.8.5 or the developer will become availabl;e again and be able to have a look at it.

Until then nut will have to stay at version 2.8.4

@rtcg

Also the NUT pakfire package doesn’t include a WUI tool to view the UPS status but the APCUPSD packfire package does.

The APCUPSD WUI page is actually just a compiled cgi page from the apcupsd developers. It is not a specifically IPFire coded page.

If a WUI page is desired by nut users then some of them can always come up with the code to do it and provide a patch submission as described in the IPFiore Documentation.

@rtcg

Where are the pakfire source packages kept?

They are available at https://git.ipfire.org/?p=ipfire-2.x.git;a=shortlog;h=refs/heads/next

@rtcg

Is the compilation of customized pakfire packages encouraged or discouraged? Or is only discourse desired?

You can create your own addon packages, or you can modify existing ones, or you can do those things and then submit your results as a patch submission to IPFire.

https://www.ipfire.org/docs/devel/ipfire-2-x/build-howto
https://www.ipfire.org/docs/devel/ipfire-2-x/addon-howto
https://www.ipfire.org/docs/devel/submit-patches

You can also have a go at building the updated nut package and if you can figure out how to overcome the group issue I have had then you can submit the package update as a patch submission. You would be most welcome to have a go at whatever you desire.

The IPFire team is small and so any users willing to support by doing updates or modifications or bug fixes are always welcome.

https://www.ipfire.org/docs/devel/bugzilla

@rtcg

Where are these “community packages” that are mentioned in the forums description for ADD-ONS (Extend IPFire beyond the firewall with community packages and additional services).

The documentation for them is at
https://www.ipfire.org/docs/addons

and you install them via the Pakfire menu item.
https://www.ipfire.org/docs/configuration/ipfire/pakfire

Hopefully I have provided answers to all or most of your questions but if after going through things you haver any further questions, please feel free to raise them.

[rtcg (Richard G)]

Thank you for such a detailed reply. I have a learning curve ahead of me but I will attempt this.

I still have some confusion on the term “Community Packages”. I believe I must be misunderstanding. The packages that are installable from the PAKFIRE option in the WUI, are they not all ‘official’ IPFire packages? My interpretation of “Community Packages” made me think of forum members here posting their own packages that one could install via something like a .SlackBuild script or point to a community repository. I see now how manually compiled packages can be installed at the command line. Is there a place here Community members share packages?

Also, do I understand correctly that the entire IPFire project (including the operating system, kernel, boot system, and installation routine) is compile-able on a existing system or server after cloning the git repository? In other words, can I just use one of my existing Linux servers or workstations instead of setting up a brand new server dedicated to the IPFire operating system?

I’m a neophyte compiling outside of slackware as I haven’t learned the package manager systems, but I have a spare IPFire device available to use for testing.

Thank you again for your time.

PS: This thread has veered slightly from it’s original subject. Although if I can get this up and running, I’ll see about compiling the UPSSTATS.CGI for the IPFire Nut package.

--
Richard

[bonnietwin (Adolf Belka)]

Sorry for the late reply.

@rtcg

I still have some confusion on the term “Community Packages”. I believe I must be misunderstanding.

Where have you seen the term “Community Packages” as you are using it.

@rtcg

The packages that are installable from the PAKFIRE option in the WUI, are they not all ‘official’ IPFire packages?

Yes, they are all the official IPFire addon packages. Some of them were created originally by IPFire users, who also then supported them with updates and bug investigations.

Over time that has reduced so that now only a few are still supported in that way,

So I had thought you had meant these addons but it seems you are meaning something different.

@rtcg

My interpretation of “Community Packages” made me think of forum members here posting their own packages that one could install via something like a .SlackBuild script or point to a community repository

IPFire does not have a repository for built packages for users to just download as this is seen as a security issue. See this post on this topic.

https://community.ipfire.org/t/raspberry-pi-5-build/15447/33

@rtcg

Also, do I understand correctly that the entire IPFire project (including the operating system, kernel, boot system, and installation routine) is compile-able on a existing system or server after cloning the git repository? In other words, can I just use one of my existing Linux servers or workstations instead of setting up a brand new server dedicated to the IPFire operating system?

Yes. I am running all my builds on my desktop machine.

How quickly the build occurs depends on the capability of the system. When I first started then my build were taking around 12 to 14 hours.
These days it takes between 2 and 3 hours.

You can even do an IPFire build on an IPFire system. This is mentioned in the documentation. Of course as those systems do not need the most powerful cpu etc then the build speed will tend to be slower, but it can be done.

@rtcg

Although if I can get this up and running, I’ll see about compiling the UPSSTATS.CGI for the IPFire Nut package.

That would be good. I am sure all the nut users would be very happy with that.